THAT UNCOMMON COMMON SENSE AGAIN

Our last entry, about technicalities, bemoaned that common sense is not as common as one may wish. That entry empathized with two people seeking relief from the judgment against them, who found out that the rule entitled “relief from judgment” was not, oddly enough, the rule that applied to their case.

Common sense may also dictate that if a party wins on appeal and seeks to get the money they spent on that appeal back, that application would go to one place at one time and be fairly uniformly treated.   No such luck in sunny Florida (or most other jurisdictions).

Depending on whether the application is for hard costs (such as filing fees) or for attorney’s fees, they will be sent to two different courts – the trial court for costs, and the appellate court for fees. They will also have very different chances of success – most costs will be available to recoup, but usually not fees, absent a specific statute or an agreement between the parties.  They will not even be presented at the same time.  In an appeal before Florida’s state court, such a motion for fees must be presented before the hearing, when we do not even know who will prevail.

Common sense, once again, may just be to hire a good attorney.